Ron Weiss, Tom Knight
MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
The goal of our project is to construct cellular computers for process
control (Microbial Robotics). Potential applications for this technology
include embedded intelligence in materials, sensor/effector arrays, drug
and biomaterial manufacturing, smart medicine, and nanoscale fabrication.
In the first phase, we are implementing in-vivo logic circuits by harnessing
existing genetic regulatory mechanisms of repression and transcription.
Logic signals are represented by the concentration of cytoplasmic DNA binding
proteins. Gates are constructed from promoter/operator regions that are
regulated by input proteins, fused with structural genes that code for
output proteins. We are now in the process of characterizing several
gates built in our laboratory. Once the behavior of these gates is
quantified, they will be combined in a modular fashion to build simple
circuits, including an RS-Latch ("flip flop") and a ring oscillator.